ABSTRACT
This study investigated the academic performance of boarders and day students in Benin metropolis of Nigeria. The purpose of the study was to undertake analysis of academic performance of boarding and day students in Benin metropolis of Nigeria: implications for counselling specifically the study sought to investigate whether academic performance is higher among boarders than day students in Benin metropolis of Nigeria, investigate sex difference in performance of both boarding and day students. Investigate whether male boarding differs from male day student in academic performance and in addition the study sought to investigate whether female boarding differ from female day students in academic performance.
The study employed the descriptive research design. Thus 530 boarding 850 day students in Benin Metropolis of Nigeria and 274 were randomly sampled from a population 1380. To guide the study seven research questions and five hypotheses were raised and formulated respectively. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistic which involved mean, frequencies, t-test and simple percentage.
The analysis yielded the following findings among others: that boarding students perform better in English language and mathematics than day; and male day students perform better than female day students in mathematics. However, there is no significant different in performance in English language between male and female day students; and female boarding performed better than their males counterparts in both English language and mathematics; male students in boarding schools performed better in both English language and mathematics than males day students., and female students in boarding schools performed significantly better in both English language and mathematics than their female day students.
These findings were discussed and it was recommended among others, that all relevant stakeholders – parents, teachers, government and school counsellors should take special interest in encourage boarding school for both sexes; that there should adequate parental involvement in the academic activities of day students by ensuring proper study reading pattern in the children and equally monitor their activities and the kind of friends they keep. Boarding school is recommended to parents who can afford it. The school counsellors should try to focus more on day students by way of strengthening the academic activities.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTON
Background to the Study No nation can develop despite of its natural endowment if such nation does not take seriously human capital development which could be derived through sound academic foundation that is tailored towards performance in the secondary schools. The Nigerian society places great emphasis on education because it is believed to be the only avenue for national development. However, this can only be achieved if students who are in boarding and day schools in the citadel of learning get actively involved in academic activities which will enhance their academic performance. This will, in turn, lead to the technological advancement of the nation.
In many countries of the world education is viewed as a good investment for national development. Education in Nigeria is an instrument ‘’per excellence’’ for effecting national development, which is highly valued because it is a system expected to produce qualitative and quantitative human resource, required for any nation’s economic growth by using the right mix of input Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN,2004). On the strength of the above new research which proves that contemporary boarding schools serve a diverse body of motivated and well-rounded students who study and live in supportive, inclusive academic communities where they learn about independence, responsibility and traditional values that help them achieve success at higher rates than private and public day schools students in the classroom and beyond.
Boarding schools generally have small class sizes that help teachers engage every student in the classroom, whose settings are often specifically designed to encourage student participation and eye contact among everyone in class. Desarrollo (2007) Boarding Schools promote socialisation and mainstreaming of poor minority children, as children from remote and rural areas or of ethnic and linguistic minorities can be introduced to new ways of living, routines, responsibilities, technologies, teachers and fellow students from outside their community.
Boarding schools are self-contained communities. Students and faculty eat together. They share relaxing times watching TV and playing games together. This is because teachers and staff in a boarding school function in place of parents. They take the place of parents literally and figuratively. They play a powerful role in shaping and guiding their young charges while they are at school. Because the students are not allowed to go home at the end of classes, they cannot avoid the strong influence teachers have on them. This is a major reason many parents send their sons and daughters off to boarding school.
In a boarding school students can develop skills that can serve them to live in a broader community. Learning and living together with other students, boarding offer students a good opportunity to help each other with their studies during and after school hours; cooperate and respect other people’s habits and values; develop social and communication skills through interaction with other students and staff.
UNESCO (2010) opted that Boarding schools provide a centralized location for learning and living that can be an effective link between the remote communities of origin and the larger society. Most of the boarding students read regularly because they have scheduled time for reading in their curriculum, they sometimes use library and library books. Independence, self-confidence and responsibility, are the characteristics of persons who have been to a boarding school, as they rely less on their parents.
Boarding schools offer structure and discipline; as they are obligated to study according to a structured program during and after school hours; learn to respect rules, conduct duties on time, go to bed on time and rise up early. Lack of discipline and lateness to school is also a negative characteristic of day-school, as students and teachers have less regards for rules and are less responsible, as they are more irregular and less punctual at school.
Overcrowding in dormitories in boarding schools sometimes double the originally intended number of students being accommodated. The problems faced by boarding students included overcrowding in the students’ hostels, many boarding school meals are frequently badly managed or badly prepared, beside the inadequacy of the diet, scarcity of water, noise from class or neighbouring classes. Other problems include lack of good lighting system, interference from friends in the same or other classes and disturbances from non human activities like mosquitoes. Despite those problems, an average boarding student enjoys living and studying conditions, which are luxurious, compared to the hardship and squalor endured by many day students.
Academics at boarding schools operate at high standards, as students are pushed to “ask why,” thus becoming inquisitive and this enables them tackle challenging problems. Course selections at boarding schools tend to be quite diverse, have plenty of academic performance (AP) options, and offer a wide range of topics. Athletic and extracurricular options tend to be broad thus encouraging students to try new things. Many boarding schools also offer opportunities to study short term courses in different countries, with counselling departments which are generally well-staffed. Counsellors often have plenty of experience in helping students identify appropriate schools and advising them on getting admission into competitive institutions. Another situation that leads to preference for boarding schools is the case of semi-orphans or lack of good parental care for the children.
Also, monitoring and coaching of students is better in boarding schools. Often parents of students, who are illiterate, are unable to monitor the progress of their children and coach them in their studies. Furthermore, in boarding schools it is easier to monitor and coach students than in day schools, because students stay intern during and after school hours. A lack of monitoring and support of children is a negative characteristic of day-school, especially in the case of illiteracy. Monitoring and coaching of students is very important in order to achieve good educational results. Parents play an important role in this respect, in the case of illiterate parents, monitoring and coaching by parents can be problematic, as it is difficult or highly impossible to monitor the progress of their children and to coach them, which if in a boarding school, the school can fill this gap.
Day school provides the right balance between family life and school life. The child can go to school to learn and develop social skills, but come home and have bonding time with the family. Plus, day school is much less costly than boarding school and this may play a role in your final decision as well.
Day schools students always grow up in an upright way and very responsible because their parents or guardians involve them in responsible activities. As we can see, some students lack good manners because they live without parents who would correct them in case they make any mistakes. These show that, when parents devote more time for their children, it leads to a healthier relationship that is mutually beneficial.
Many day schools offer coeducation facilities and this is an important requirement in terms of today’s world. Interacting with the opposite sex in the early years will enable children to be comfortable in the presence of the opposite sex when they reach a stage where they might have to work alongside them in an official environment. Children who have not had this opportunity might be shy and uncomfortable where in the company of people from the opposite sex in the future.
Most day schools encourage children to mix with the opposite sex from their early years and this builds confidence and helps in exchange of ideas between the sexes over the formative years. This is one of the most important functions performed by a day school. He added that although there may be a few boarding schools that offer coeducation, but day schools clearly outnumber the boarding schools doing this and coeducation in day schools is a much more accepted and existent structure in day schools.
Day schools are a preferred option as they are much less expensive than a boarding school. Tuition fees in day schools are cheaper. Most good quality day schools are relatively cheaper than boarding schools and this is another reason why parents opt for day schools over boarding schools. Day schools allow parents to admit students in private tuitions of their choice as well, in case their children need extra coaching. Most boarding schools have fees that are a bit exorbitant, and unless parents are willing to fund a new experience and style of education for their children, most average parents prefer day schools.
Day schools are a better option for those parents who wish to have close supervision over their children. Day schools enable constant parent-teacher contact and this enables the parents to be able to monitor the progress of their children in terms of both academics and extra curricular activities. This is also an important aspect of a day school. Parents can provide moral guidance if they are in constant contact with their children and this is possible only if the children attend a day school.
Where children are used to the comforts at home, then they might find it difficult to survive in a boarding school. Day schools enable the children to relax a bit more than boarding schools. In a boarding school, students are required to take part in many events and many students find it difficult to deal with this schedule. Parents will be better served to opt for a day school if their children have been brought up in a relaxed atmosphere.
In case of any sickness or injury, parents can be with their children immediately if they are admitted in a day school. Some children require parents to be constantly being by their side, especially if something untoward happens. The choice between a boarding school and a day school depends on a variety of factors and especially on the maturity level of the child involved. Whatever decision parents make, it is important for them to stick to it- the kind of schooling a child receives and the experiences there eventually define the personality of the child.
The time at school is limited, and children have to do household tasks when at home, especially girls, concentration on their studies is more difficult at home. Going to and coming from school also takes time, as they seldom read, especially during examination. As the environment of most day students is not conducive for reading; it is in the light of this that some prefer their children to go to boarding school for proper discipline and to inculcate better reading habits. In line with this belief, boarding schools can be seen to positively influence students’ academic performance, as this cannot be over emphasized.
The greatest problem faced by day students besides their home environment that is not conducive for reading, includes long distances to school, bad company at home, lack of proper accommodation and proper diet.
Kail, Robert and John (2007) opined that Academic Performance refers to the Grade Point Average (GPA) of the respondents obtained at the end of term. It is the method the school uses to evaluate and assess how well the students understand what has been taught and proves what they have learnt by their academic performance within the term.
Adomeh (2006) sees counselling as a set of service which is rendered by a professional counsellor to an individual or group of individual in need of such service.
Counselling is the process of establishing a relationship to identify people`s needs, design strategies and services to satisfy these needs and actively assist in carrying out plans of action to help people make informed decision, solve problems develop self awareness and leave healthier lives. Schmidt (1993).
Educational guidance is a process of help student to achieve the self understanding and self-direction necessary to make informed choices and move toward personal goals. Guidance, a uniquely American educational innovation, focuses on the complete development of individual student through a series of services designed to maximize school learning that result in academic performance of student being boarder or day. Although guidance activities are usually associated with educational professionals known as counsellors, educational guidance is actually a cooperative enterprise, involving the participation of teachers, administrators, other educational specialists, and parents.
The purpose of the act is to indentify students with outstanding abilities, to encourage them to seek higher education, assist them in following studies best suited to their abilities.
Guidance Program is organized as a series of services. One service is academic planning. Counsellor assists students with curriculum and individual courses selection. The program also is designed to help students who have academic difficulties.
Student’s appraisal is another counselling function. Standardized tests are administered to assist in appropriate academic placement, to assess academic achievement, to identify individual aptitudes, to explore vocational interest, and to examine personal characteristics. Test is used also to identify gifted students and those with special learning problems. College counselling centre assist students with academi, vocational or personal problems.
Urban and Daad (2007) examine the characteristics of boarding and day schools and how it contribute in a positive way and what characteristics
Contribute in a negative way to the academic performance of the students. Also the positive and negative effects related to the features of boarding and day schools and contextual and situational factors influence the academic performance of the students.
Day school provides instruction during the day to students who go home at the end of the school day, in contrast with a boarding school, in which students live on the campus full time, going home for holidays and special occasions. Day schools may be public or private in nature, and can be run in accordance with a wide variety of missions. Many children spend at least some time in a day school during the course of their educations. Some day schools run literally all day, providing instruction from the early morning to the evening.
Other day schools may run on a relatively short schedule, from early morning to early afternoon, but provide students with optional activities and classes which can be taken after school, potentially allowing students to stay all day for activities. Parents of day students can become more involved in helping their children improve their academic performance by providing encouragement, arranging for appropriate study time and space, extra lessons at home by a lesson teacher employed, reducing their wards house chores in order to create time for reading, modelling desired behaviour (such as reading for pleasure), monitoring homework, and actively tutoring their children at home. Far distance is an important situation that leads to preference for boarding schools.
Urban and Daad (2007) agrees that many day-schools also offer more than schooling, like food and clothing. But in the case of boarding schools this aid is usually more extensive (including housing). This ‘full aid’ can stimulate parents to send their children to school, though boarding school is quite expensive and it’s met for those who parents/guardian can afford it. This aid also indirectly contributes to good educational results. Learning with an empty stomach is difficult.
Ebenuwa- Okoh (2010) agrees that on the other hand, preference is given to day-schools if there is a possibility to attend or establish a school nearby. Distance to school is often caused by a shortage of schools, caused by lack of funding. Day-schools are cheaper, therefore more schools (close to home) can be established. Day school provides the right balance between family life and school life. The child can go to school to learn and develop social skills, but come home and have bonding time with the family.
The Counselling implication to schools is that the school counsellor should be able to maximal learning and interested in academic performance of students. Counselling as the third arm of educational programme (i.e. Instruction, administration and guidance) the counselling in the Nigeria education system has become a reality. One point of note is that counselling psychologist should give considerable attention to the importance of school type (Co-educational) sex (male and female) of students in boarding and day schools as it bring about difference in academic performance of the students. The school counsellor in this area should give cognisance to counselling of students irrespective of their sex and their parents in relation to academic performance. This may be a good way to improving students academic performances. Also counsellor should be able to counsel the boarding or day students so as they may know why they are in the type of school.
From whatever angle one looks at boarding and day students academic performance at school, certain factors such as sex, school type and environment, bring differences in academic performance. Therefore, Teachers, school counsellors, parents and government are unanimous in wanting children to learn. Boarding and day schools make that learning possible.
In Benin Metropolis, therefore, the importance of academic performance of boarding and day students cannot be over looked. The stronger the relationship, especially between boarding and day school on which is prefer the higher the likelihood for stakeholder in deciding which to send their children to. There has been previous studies carried out in kwara state secondary school to compare students academic performance of boarding and day students in English language and mathematics, there had not be too many studies in analysis of academic performance of co-educational (boarding and day in the same school) in Benin metropolis of Nigeria. It is against this background therefore that the present study seeks to investigate and fill the gap.
Statement of the Problem
The whole system of education revolves round the academic performance of students, though various other outcomes are also expected from the system. Thus, a lot of time and effort of the schools are used for helping students to achieve better in their scholastic endeavours. Boarding or day school in the system has become an index for measuring student’s academic performance in the educational process in this highly competitive world. The choice to make by stakeholders in the educational sector, governments, educationists, parents, principals, teachers, guardians etc. is been considered critical in the society and it has been observed by the researchers in recent times, certain factors are responsible for the academic performance of boarders and day students that leads to the research on the analysis of boarding and day student academic performance.
Moreover, despite many researches on analysis of academic performance in the few decades there is still much to be done. Researches in the area of analysis of academic performance have focused mainly on secondary school students. Deforges & Abouchaar,(2003) and most especially in areas of academic performance.
Secondary education is the foundation for all students anywhere in the world, it is necessary to consider the analysis of academic performance of boarding and day students at this level. Since some school structures that are boarding also have day students that attend the institution by day and return off-campus to their families in the evenings. The advantages and disadvantages to both school settings, is a further consideration when making choices about the child’s academic performance whether to choose a day or boarding school for them to attend. Also, literature has shown that there are differences in academic performance of boarding/day students as manifested in their examination.
Other factors responsible for academic performance of boarding and day students are Sex and environment of the students etc. There is the need for parents to know which of their children either male or female to send to boarding or day secondary school, the questions that come to mind then are; Which of the sex perform better in day school and which sex perform better in boarding school? To what extent does boarding school have positive or negative influence on the student’s academic performance? To what extent does day secondary school have positive or negative influence on the students’ academic performance? These questions constitute the gap in knowledge that the study intend to fill.
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study was to undertake analysis of academic performance of boarding and day students in Benin Metropolis of Nigeria: implications for counselling. Specifically, the study sought to:
- Investigate whether academic performance is higher among boarders than day students in Benin metropolis of Nigeria.
- Investigate sex differences in academic performance of both boarding and day students.
- Investigate whether male boarding differ from male day students in academic performance.
- Investigate whether female boarding differ from female day students in academic performance.
Research questions
- Is there any difference in academic Performance between boarding and day students in Benin Metropolis?
- Is there any difference in academic Performance between male and female students in Day school in Benin Metropolis?
- Is there any difference in academic Performance between male and female students in Boarding school in Benin Metropolis?
- Is there any difference in academic performance between male boarding and male day students in Benin Metropolis?
- Is there any difference in academic Performance between female boarding and female day students in Benin Metropolis?
Hypotheses
H01: There is no significant difference in academic performance boarding and day students in Benin Metropolis.
H02: There is no significant difference in academic performance between male and female day students in Benin Metropolis.
H03: There is no significant difference in academic performance between Boarding and day students in Benin Metropolis.
H04: There is no significant difference in academic performance between male boarding and male day students.
H05: There is no significant difference in academic performance between female boarding and female day students.
Significance of the study
The finding of this study will be beneficial to stakeholders in the educational system such as parents, boarding and day students, psychologists, school counsellors, educators, researchers and government. The study would be of great assistance to Benin metropolis in particular and Nigeria in general and contribute to existing literatures.
The finding of the study will be of benefit to students on which type of school to attend whether boarding or day especially those who have opportunity to make choices. The school authority will be convinced to organised a seminar where students, parents, teachers, school counsellors, psychologist, researchers and government officials will be there, issue like boarding and day co-educational school type and its benefits, benefit of both sex and their academic performance, the worth and disadvantages of both school type will be discussed, the students will be acquainted with the right information concerning boarding and day schools and co-educational. They will be provided with the merit and demerit of being a boarder or day student and their academic performances.
The study will assist parents to know whether to send their children to boarding or day school; it will afford them the benefit of the structure of both types of schools. It will equally assist parents to know which sex perform better in boarding than day school. It will also assist parents to know whether to send their male or female children to boarding or day school; Parents having be informed through seminar such information or the awareness may help parents to monitor the activities of their children at home in order to regulate the following(Watching of films, Television, Playing of games, Football the use of smart phones texting/chatting/pinging. it will equally help them reduce time spent on domestic house chores, and friend (idle time), monitor study patterns of their children, school assignment to allow for proper concentration ,thereby creating the enabling environment for learning. The release of such information to parents/guardians will also help them engage their children meaningfully and help utilizing their time better than what they are doing now.
At the PTA (Parents Teacher Association) Meetings you can also request opportunity to talk to the parents concerning the findings of the study. The summary of the findings can be distributed to the counsellors of schools affected to cut and paste on the school notice board within the schools where students can go to read and benefit.
The finding of the study it will assist the school counsellor/psychologists to enlighten the community about enormous advantage associated with boarding and day school that is co-educational know how best to counsel boarders or day students on how their study/reading pattern should be in order to excel academically, with the information the counsellor will be able to advised students to have a reading time-table and stick to it.
The findings of this research work may also be beneficial to educational institutions. The results can be utilized to develop school programmes. It will assist the educators to know the benefit of both type of schools.
It is also hoped that the findings of this study will help potential future researchers in Nigeria in the of literature review as it will serve as one of the empirical studies in the field of analysis of academic performance of boarding and day students in Benin metropolis of Nigeria. And it will enable future researchers to replicate this study in other parts of the country if the work will be published online, so that it will be made available for other researchers and assist the government in Educational planning, policies and provision of infrastructures for boarding and Day schools.
Scope of the Study
This study covered all private schools that operate a structure of boarding and day Secondary Schools (Co-Educational) in Benin Metropolis, with the exclusion of public Secondary Schools. The schools in this research work were mainly Nosakhare Model Educational Centre, Word of Faith group of School, St Mary British International High School and Baptist High School. Schools like ICC, Presentation High School, University Preparation Secondary School were excluded because they operate purely boarding and are either boys or girls. But the ones used were boarding and day in the same school and mixed.
This study covered school type (boarding and Day) the sex of the students in boarding and day schools and their academic performance in English Language and Mathematics, it also cover the academic performance among private secondary school students, specifically students in SS I on their academic records. They only have JSS III standardised results computed for this work.
Limitations of the Study
The limitation of the study was that, only privately owned schools were used for this study while public boarding and day schools were excluded. The reasons being that, no public school is co-educational in nature that is having boarding and day school together and schools in rural and urban area could not be used because the discrepancy is much, the environment, the infrastructure, the teachers and learning materials are not all the same. This is an obvious limitation. The population and the sample size for this study did not represent the totality of students in the secondary schools in Edo State because the study was restricted to only boarding and day school(Co-educational) in Benin Metropolis of Nigeria.
Definition of Terms
The following terms are identified by the researcher as important to the understanding of the study:
Boarding (or residential) schools – are in this research defined
